Here's The Right (And WRONG) Way To Set Up Your Trailer When Towing! 

appreciate it

@@MrTruckTV you guys are doing a fantastic job. Thank you for keeping us on our toes.

@@windrider65 Thanks and you're welcome

@@whatsapp.4173 ⛔Scam alert⛔ This is a fake account posing as TFL

@@whatsapp.4173 dont think TFL would ever ask to whats app them. so scam account using same pic as them

Congrats I just bought my first enclosed trailer to haul my motorcycles. I'm so nervous about picking it up on Friday.

Yes, they are idjits, strapping off to the frame instead of the tires or a-arms. Menace to the general public! Maybe they're both high or something.

I appreciate the advice, I too do it for a living every week with my own equipment and ballast, but I just have six trailers.

Florida has a reputation to uphold.

Oh shit they’re in co!!??

Most trucks can safely stop 3000 lbs of trailer weight safely, with good brakes of coarse ! Anything over 3k , you are required to use electric trailer brakes that have to be state inspected annually like your vehicle ! Those trailer brakes , along with your truck brakes will stop your vehicle safely !

Thanks

the hooks are just a "cool accessory" that no one really needs. they were a bit vague about the part of the video where they put too much tongue weight on "just to see what it would be" and how distribution hitches actually work at distributing.

This is a question I have about weight distributing hitches as well. It seems that if you just load your trailer properly they shouldn't do much except maybe control a little bit of sway as you turn, go over uneven surfaces that upset the balance, and maybe wind as well.

@@ColeSpolaric I think weight distribution hitches are more for campers where the tongue weight can be pretty high. With campers the weight is spread out so much that a lot ends up on the tongue.

@@joshgarner805 more for sway control on travel trailers because of profile/ acts like a wind sail

@@cooverbennett4383 Yes the wind loves rv trailers. Like towing a billboard.

glad it helped

right. lol

Never too late to learn something.

Exactly, you don’t need all this Rube Goldberg crap

Your truck must have some stout rear springs lol

Exactly! Not just going, but stopping- load shifting which changes dynamics in an instant as well. This is probably a great reason to have too much truck, than not enough truck when towing.

I cringe each time I see them tie down on suspension. It's a good way to snap or get a strap un hooked.

@@KramKen Yep the right way would be to have tire straps...

There are several boat towing videos on this channel, but I agree with you! I’d like to see the”proper” way they set up a boat trailer for various types of boats. Especially bc you can’t really shift tongue weight around, and you typically dont use WDH/sway bars when towing boats.

so they arent liable if it comes loose and you crash. That makes you liable if you don't do it correctly.

I have a welded ball and nut setup.

Overpriced garbage that's why.

Good idea

Jetskis can get boring after a little bit

Thanks

Glad you said it, never strap sprung weight

Yeah. They should def know better being a channel showing ppl the correct way to tow. This is why you always take things you see on these vids with a grain of salt.

Hey delete this lol

The more they talk, the dumber they git!

I follow your channel Piglet, cool to find you in the wild. 👍

Hopefully you learned something. After seeing your video's you certainly need all the advice you can get.

Thanks

It would also have been cool if they had measured the axle scales with the weight distribution hitch and load full forward in order to show the difference the weight distribution hitch makes.

Maybe on a half ton. Going up in tow vehicle size, they can handle more without it.

@@tangydiesel1886 exactly Ford rates 3/4 ton crew cab diesel 15k conventional bumper tow with or without WDH. Actually states none needed because of design and where receiver mounts to frame.

No, they are welded. They visit the factory in one of their videos here, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Pn2cNHOSd1c.html

appreciate it

Thanks

I off-road with my ATV trailer. You need clearance and I prefer a single axle trailer

Probably the most important part of all of this and they just skipped over it. As far as I understand it, you want 10-15% tongue weight before you attach any WDH system. The big difference lots of people don't realize, is distributing weight does not move the center of gravity, it only changes the pressure being put on each axle. The ONLY thing that can change the center of gravity is where you have placed the payload. You need you center of gravity in the right location before you make any attempts to compensate with WDH, air bags etc. WDH should be used to compensate for heavy loads that already have the mass in the correct spot on the trailer. Every OEM has a tongue weight limit where a WDH is needed and is usually listed in their towing guide. The 2021 F-150, for instance is 500lbs. So if the trailer is >5000lb, you definitively need the WDH, and less than that, it's optional. WDH manuals usually say to target 50% of whatever the first axle rise is when the trailer was put on...so cutting the natural weight transfer by 50%; to keep good steering and braking pressure on your steer tires. To make matters more complicated, the air bag/self-levelling system can then be used to bring the squat back to perfect levels by increasing the rear spring rate. which gives you some rear travel back, but does nothing for weight distribution. Doing anything of these things in the wrong order can make the whole rig look like everything is great but have terrible or even dangerous performance.

Agreed, they didn't go into the detail as much as they should have, no mention of tongue weight range for conventional towing, nor described what the WDH actually does when hitched up correctly. They also didn't show the differences in weight with and without the bars. I feel it was more of here's what not to do than the proper way to do it.

If I was buying an F150 I think I would probably just stick to the 5.0 or if getting the 2.7 or 3.5 I would probably sell it once I got around 100k miles. I know a few people who have had serious issues. One of them had to replace the cam phasers and timing chain and all 2x on his by the time he hit 120k miles and ended up just getting a short block the 2nd time around then sold the truck and another guy I know had it happen and ended up with a short block and all and cost him a couple grand since it happened as soon as the warranty ended. They don't seem to get nearly the kind of gas mileage Ford claims either unless you drive those ecoboost engines like a granny. They have all had issues lately though, GM has had bad lifters from like Sept 20 till a few months ago would think they would just do a recall on all those trucks. Seen tons of 5.7 Rams with blown head gaskets besides all kinds of electrical issues in some I have seen and I am a dealer with a garage so I see a bit not just somebody hating on one brand or another. I prefer GM but all the new trucks are nice and I would settle for any of them but if I was buying an F150 for myself I think I would just get the 5.0. The 5.4 engine Ford used from 04-08 think it was, was absolute junk so were the trannys behind the engine but those had the same issue with cam phasers and timing chains. I actually bought 3 of those F150s and 1 F250 a few years ago with the 5.4 to have some cheap trucks around to sell in the $5-9k range. Every single one I had to either replace the tranny or engine. I won't make the mistake of buying one again lol. At least the one with a bad engine had a good tranny.

@Allen Tokyo Colour****

@@JesseLJohnson the 1.0 litre 3 cylinder Ecoboost was a ground breaking engine for Ford. In the Focus the Ecoboost can blow away the 4 cylinder 1.6 engine in a drag race. However, as you say, driving it in that way to extract the whole 125 bhp will result in crap economy. Also, I am quite sure that driving the 1.6 Zetec engine like a Granny will result in excellent economy while still retaining the 1.6 torque on demand. Incidentally, that 1.6 Zetec is absolutely bombproof and the 1.6 Focus is much cheaper than the Ecoboost. Additionally, VW has a 1.0 3 cylinder engine in various VWs, Seats and Skodas which is very economical and gives no trouble at all. Now don't get me wrong Buddy, I love Ford products but I'm very much afraid that the Ecoboost may be just a little bit fragile. I understand the concept that it provides the power of a large capacity engine in one that is just over half the size, good for emissions. Good emissions or not, don't alienate your loyal customers by making them do your engine quality control for you.

Thanks, I'm in NoCo

That's an Idea, I'll talk to Bob at Shocker

I've done that

Thats because they are used to loading flat bed semis, and they always load front to back.

@@acdii that's what I think. If he was capable of operating the forklift without killing someone he probably knew how to use it but a lot of the time your just moving pallets around a floor or onto semi trailers ect.

Yep. Especially with using hook ratchet straps. The suspension can compress making the strap loose and come unhooked.

Every time I watch one of their towing videos, I've always noticed that the tie down straps are really floppy no matter how or what they're strapping down

Came here to say this, they should really study how to properly secure vehicles because people watch this and assume that the way TFL secures their loads is correct.

That's true, travel trailers mfg. try to sell all their TT to work on 1/2 tons. It causes many problems including proposing. They are basically a teter toter. You right, commercial trailers including horse trailers use Dexter axle rules in their owners manual which is 2/3's back for the axle placement. It is better to be a little tongue heavy that a little butt heavy.

Thanks

yes. i wanna know this too.

I have a video like that on my channel, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4-wvUa8dtVc.html doing one this month hooking up WDH

For a half ton you do, even though it is 500 pounds @ 10%, it will still take weight off the front axle enough to affect steering. The WDH, which they did not explain in this video, is to transfer lost weight back to the front axle.

Yes, there is; Look on Amazon, and you'll find hitches called Weigh Safe.. There are also "trailer Tongue weight scales" that are a bit cheaper. Search for "trailer tongue weight scales" and you'll find them. Knowing the tongue weight is important, but it's not the end-all, be-all. If a trailer tongue scale says you have 750 pounds on the tongue, well, is it 10%; for that you'd need to know the actual weight of the trailer and the cargo as well. Same thing for the truck; to know if your vehicle is within the rated specs, for both your truck and for your trailer along with the ratings for each axle, for both the front and rear axle of the truck, plus that of the individual axles of each trailer. But trailer tongue weight scales do exist;

Thanks

Yes

I've been towing my 18 ft lund boat with a wal mart hitch for 25 yrs with no problem just use common sense when towing 👍🛳

It should be in you truck owners manual. It changes. It use to be generally 3000 lbs. No GM went up to 7000 lbs on 1500 1/2 ton trucks

You should be able to correct that on the truck. Do you have overloads or air bags?

Thanks for the tip. I'm paranoid about this as I am new to towing.

In Europe you're only allowed a 3.75% tongue weight, the trailer brakes have to be self-actuated like a boat with hydraulic, electric or mechanical surge. The load has to be over the axles. The most popular towing vehicle in Europe is a Volvo station wagon. Big loads are on medium trucks with horse boxes.

@@MrTruckTV Well, it's not a % but bound to the vehicle itself. My number was about the maximum you will find on a vehicle and usually a pickup. When towing above around 5500 pounds the most used vehicle is a truck in a European size (hilux, amarok, navara etc). Your trucks are overkill here as we can't tow more then 7700 pounds on a regular towing license anyway. Weight over an axle kind of explains itself due to low tongue weights. It works here so why can't you do it?